Gov. Scott commits $40 million to river issues

Tuesday

Aug 20, 2013 at 6:50 PM

Gov. Rick Scott said Tuesday that he is committing $40 million to finish the construction on a storm water treatment project by the St. Lucie River that he hopes will help ease the environmental impact of water being released from nearby waterways.

The Associated Press

STUART — Gov. Rick Scott said Tuesday that he is committing $40 million to finish the construction on a storm water treatment project by the St. Lucie River that he hopes will help ease the environmental impact of water being released from nearby waterways.

The governor made his announcement after a tour of the river that began with him being met by several dozen demonstrators who chanted and held signs like "Stop mucking up our river." The protesters claim that both the federal and state governments had been slow to offer assistance.

Scott said he believes the $40 million from the state will speed the completion of the project, which he said will protect the water quality in the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee estuaries. The project was supposed to be completed in three years, but Scott said this funding should cut it down to about 18 months.

The dumping of polluted water there has led to fish kills and toxic water. But even with the commitment in the next fiscal period from Florida, Scott said Army Corps of Engineers needs promised federal funding to maintain the Lake Okeechobee dike system. He said he remains optimistic it will come.

"The federal government is going to finally step up," Scott said of his expectations. "Florida has been stepping up...The federal government is going to start doing their job. They gotta start funding projects."

Scott deflected criticism that he hasn't been focused on the issue and pointed to $880 million that the state has committed during his tenure for the long-term restoration of the everglades aimed at improving water quality standards there. He said the same can happen along the St. Lucie River with federal help.

In a letter to the Army Corps of Engineers on Tuesday, Scott called for it to fulfill a cost-match obligation of $1.6 billion in South Florida, which he said was owed Florida. He also called for Florida to be provided flexibility to pursue critical projects by providing block grants for the design and construction of the projects.

"But it's very difficult for them to get anything done if we have a federal government that doesn't put the money up," Scott said. "They need to make sure we get our fair share back of things they've already committed to us to get this issue resolved."

Yvonne Koehler, 78, lives a half-mile from the St. Lucie Locks section of the river that Scott toured Tuesday. She has been living in the area for 50 years and said the attention from the state government is overdue. Koehler said it's having the biggest effect on fishermen and tourist that might also want to fish in the area.

"There's no sense in fishing here," she said. "If you catch anything you can't eat it. That's if there's anything in there ... If we're going to save this river for our grandchildren, we have to do something now."

Sen. Joe Negron (R-Stuart) said that it was "past the time for talking" about how to clean up the situation.

"We have a crisis in our community, we have an environmental emergency and what I want to focus my attention on from now until the beginning of the year is what things can we do short-term to lower the amount of water pouring in to our community," he said.

Asked about the possibility, Scott wouldn't say if he'd consider suing the federal government like he said last week he'd do Georgia over its consumption of freshwater in a river system that serves three Southeastern states, including Florida.

"I've been working on this project since problems started and I'm going to continue to work on it," Scott said.